The consumer market for wireless routers is saturated with hundreds of popular models from dozens of manufacturers. In order to stand out from the competition, a wireless router may benefit from having a unique industrial design (ID). Nevertheless, a compact and aesthetically pleasing unique ID may pose the following challenge for designers. Specifically, the challenge lies in creating a dense mechanical architecture that will fit the necessary components within the compact enclosure without sacrificing performance.
Two important elements to the performance of a wireless router are the range and throughput of the radios. Range is the distance at which an endpoint can maintain a connection to the wireless router. Throughput is the rate at which data is transferred over this connection.
Range is directly proportional to the clarity of the signal transmitted by the antennas. The electronics in the wireless router also emit low-level, spurious radio waves that can destructively interfere with the antenna signal. Some wireless routers reduce this interference by placing the antennas far away from the printed circuit board assembly (PCBA). Nevertheless, it may not always be possible to achieve such distances between the antennas and the PCBAs with a compact and unique ID, as discussed above.
Additionally, heat transfer has a big impact on throughput. The radio processors in a wireless router will throttle back throughput if they get too hot, to avoid overheating the silicon. To avoid this, some wireless routers accelerate heat transfer away from the radio processors by using natural convection of air to transfer the heat out of the enclosure through venting holes. Nevertheless, venting holes may not always be consistent with a compact and unique ID, as further discussed above. Consequently, one wishing to manufacture an aesthetically pleasing wireless router with a compact ID needs to be innovative in the design of the mechanical architecture, specifically as it relates to radio range and throughput. The instant disclosure, therefore, identifies and addresses a need for improved apparatuses, systems, and methods for cooling wireless routers.